Chanukah, also known as the Festival of Lights, commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Greek Seleucid Empire and the subsequent rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.       The Chabad Lubavitch movement places significant emphasis on the holiday and its message, both historically and in a contemporary context.  The Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, highlighted...

     Students from Bob Graham Education Center will perform at the Elementary All-State Chorus.       Six singers from the 75-member school chorus made up of third, fourth and fifth graders will represent BGEC during the Florida Elementary Music Educators Association conference in Tampa in January.       To qualify for the state chorus, students underwent a rigorous audition...

    When Fred Senra was a 14-year-old growing up in Cuba, he and his friends considered themselves to be counterrevolutionaries and had some guns.      “We had a fantasy to take out Castro,” said Celita Cabrera, who has known Senra since high school. “Our parents knew better and took us to the U.S.”       Senra, 77, was the first friend Cabrera saw when she arrived in...

As a hush fell over a darkened Main Street, Santa flicked a giant switch and dazzled the crowd with hundreds of brilliantly colored lights that adorned the trees and facades of stores and apartment buildings.       This year on Nov. 18, thousands of revelers enjoyed the Festival of Lights display along several blocks in downtown Miami Lakes during the event that has delighted families for 38 years.    ...

The Miami Lakes Athletic Club remains the favorite place for fit folks, and those who aspire to be. For the fourth year in a row, the gym that celebrated its 40th anniversary last year won best fitness/wellness/gym in the Best of Miami Lakes contest. The town announced the winners for the annual online rankings on Nov. 20. There were more than 3,000 votes submitted across eight categories for businesses and...